The Third Child
by 22ablanchard
Summary: Heather is a 16 year old demigod, whos life turns upside down when her band teacher nearly kills her letting the fact that Gaea's followers are rallying once again against the demigods to exact their revenge on defeating the Earth Mother. So Heather is taken to Camp, where she learns to survive. WARNING! cursing is involved. SHIPS: OCxOC, basically all ships in PJO.
1. My boyfriend is a demigod

"How are you doing today, my love?" Max sit beside me and gives me a quick peck on the cheek before getting started on his cheeseburger.

I shrug. "Same old, same old." I say, and lean against him with my head on his shoulder as I poke my food. "More science homework, again."

"Well that's always fun." He says. Maxamillion Avila, 18 years old and most popular senior in his year, is the kind of guy that's kind of sarcastic, a bit mischievous, and the kind of boyfriend that pampers his girlfriend like crazy, and goes nuts when I talk to any other guy. And he's also the kind of guy that attracts all the other girls, because let me tell you, he is HOT. He can look at any girl and make them swoon over him with his sunflower eyes, which is why most girls hate me for dating him, they all want a chance to get him for themselves.

But I should probably tell you about myself and stop drooling over my boyfriend. My name is Heather Armendez, I'm 16, and I'm FAR from what you would call perfect. I wear old hoodies and jeans and boots every day, my wavy black hair is always kinda frizzy, and I have stubborn acne on my face. The only good thing about me is my "big, hazel, anime-like" eyes, or as Max calls them. I have not great grades, but acceptable grades. I have ADHD and dyslexia, but I still love to read a whole lot. Oh, and I live with my nurse mom and black lab jay. My dad abandoned my mom and I when I was hardly a month old, and my mom hasn't married since.

That about covers most of me, now back to the story.

"Mr. Kitchen gave us more Mythology homework." Max says, looking at me. "You wanna help with that?" He smiles, knowing that I'll say yes. Mythology is one of my favorite subjects in the whole world.

I look at him smiling. "Of course I'll help you, dummy." I give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Later I'm in the last period of the day, Band. Thank god. Ever since our old band teacher, Mr. Broecker, retired, our new band teacher was downright weird and creepy. Miss Canara looked centuries old, like she would collapse on the ground at any moment. Her skin was hanging off her like huge bags, I'm surprised it wasn't literally falling off her. And she was really rude too, and yelled at everyone as if we were horrible pieces of trash. She reminded me of that angry old grandma with a high pitched voice waving her cane around threatening to whack people with it.

Just as I sat down with the rest of my section with my clarinet in hand, Miss Canara walks into the room with a look that says "I just wanna be done with you idiots."

"EVERYONE SHUT UP AND GET RENEGADE OUT!" she yells, although we're all quiet and have that same piece of music out.

Miss Canara waves her hands, and we begin playing. However, just as we are about to start playing the softest part of the song, my clarinet squeaks so loudly everyone in the band stops and cringes. I can already feel my face go red hot as Canara glares at me with acid dripping from her eyes.

"DID YOU JUST SQUEAK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SONG?!" she screams at me, but this time is different. I glare back at her, not backing down, even though my face is still as red as a red delicious.

"Yes, ma'am." I say calmly. "But it will not happen again, I can promise you."

Somehow, some way, her face goes to one of politeness and caring. "May I speak with alone, dear?" She asks. I'm very tempted to scream HAIL NO LADY, but I nod and set my clarinet down before following her outside the band room and into the large hallway. The band room is on the other side of the school, next to the drama room and the gym, which are both empty right now.

She goes into the drama room, and I follow her inside. Except, she's not there when I go in.

"Miss Canara?" I call out.

"You foolish girl!" A hissing, cold voice sounds above the room like it was amplified by a microphone. My head snaps up to the catwalks, and I see Miss Canara standing on one.

 _HOW THE HELL DID SHE GET UP THERE?_

"Woah, how did you get up there?" I call up.

"You dare disrespect me, a powerful empousa!" She hisses, and walks around the catwalk, her left leg making a _clinking_ sound when it collides with the metal catwalk, like metal hitting metal.

"Empousa?" I repeat. "What the hell are you talking about?!" I exclaim.

"Your kind have been foolish to think the war is over!" She growls. "Gaea's followers are rallying again, and this time we will exact our revenge on you foolish demigods! I have already called for more of my allies to join me in making this place a ruin!" Right after she finishes her sentence, she changes into a pure monster. Her hair turns to flames, her eyes turn blood red, her nails turn to dagger-like claws, and her skin becomes bronze. She leaps down from the catwalk, and lunges at me.

I scream, and leap away from her, running toward the doors. She races after me, and her claws dig into my legs, shredding the jean and skin under it, drawing blood. I scream again, and collapse on the ground.

Miss Canara stares down at me with her blood red eyes, and grins, her teeth tiny daggers in her mouth. She raises her hand, covered in blood, _my_ blood, and cackles. I think of crying, thinking this is the end of me. But I won't. I won't show weakness to this creature.

"Goodbye, foolish demigod!" she says gleefully, and bring her hand down to slit my throat or slash my face, but her hand never reaches me. Instead, a hear a small whizzing, and suddenly her head has an arrow sticking out of her head, and she explodes into yellow dust with a scream.

I look behind me at my rescuer, wondering whether or not they're here to kill me instead of letting Canara do it. But when I see the rescuer, my heart skips a beat.

 _It was Max._

My boyfriend, holding a bronze bow and a quiver of arrows on his back. I don't even speak, too stunned and my vision blurry from the pain of my leg to even mutter a word.

He slings the bow over his neck and quickly runs to me, kneeling down beside my leg. "Do you have any other injuries?" He asks me.

I snap out of my daze and look at my leg, quickly wishing I hadn't. It was still gushing blood and was turning purple and green on the edges of the gashes, the jean turning dark crimson with the blood. "No." I say, and grit my teeth through the pain. But I need answers. "Max, what's going-"

"Everything will be explained, love." He interupts, still examining my wound. "I promise. But we have to get this cleaned up. I've already sent a message to camp, they're sending argus and a two others as backup in case something else happens-"

"Max, what is going on?" I exclaim. "What was that, what was she talking about, what are you-"

He kisses me, and I shut up. That's about the only thing that does when I'm talking. He pulls away, and looks at me in the eyes with a grim expression. "Heather, I promise you that everything will be explained. But right now we need to get this cleaned and bandaged up." He says. "Ok?"

I don't really agree with anything and I still want my answers now, but I still agree. "Ok." I say.

"Good." he says, and takes my right arm and slings it over his shoulders. Then he hooks his other arm under my leg, and gently lifts me up in his arms. He's more than half a foot taller than me, so no use hopping beside him while he hunches over.

We head to the nurse's station, and making sure no one is there, he opens the door and sets me down on one of the beds.

"Can you at least answer one of my questions?" I ask him while he grabs a cloth and puts water on it.

"Sure." He says, and walks back over to me with the wet cloth and gauze.

"What the _hell_ is going on, and what _was_ that thing?'" I ask as he gently but quickly rolls up my pant leg. I look away from the wound as he cleans it, wincing as the water goes into the wound.

"I'll answer the one about Miss Canara, but the rest I'll have to explain in the van." max says, finishing with the cloth and opening the gauze. "That was a Greek monster, and _empousa,_ and an old one too, I don't think they usually take the form of an old lady." He wraps the gauze around my leg and finishes up. "There. Now we get outside and into the van, they should be here already." He takes my into his arms again, and i have to admit, I kinda enjoy it. Even with the feeling that my leg is being hot ironed.

We head out the back door from the cafeteria, and I see a white van with the words _Delphi Strawberries_ on the side, and two 18 year olds standing beside it. One of them, a guy with messy black hair and sea green eyes, looks at us.

"They're they are." He says, and the other person, a girl with curly blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, looks at us. "We were starting to think they and found you and started to question you both." She says.

Max sets me down and I lean on him with one leg. "Yeah right. They wouldn't be able to get me, I'm too good."

I look at the two new people. "Who are these people?" I ask.

"Heather, meet Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase." Max says. "Two of the most powerful demigods ever."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure Annabeth is the most powerful." Percy says.

"So this is Heather?" Annabeth says. "She's not much."

I glare at her. "Just because I'm injured doesn't mean I can't knock a tooth out." I growl.

"Ok ok, everyone be calm, _Heather._ " Max says, wrapping an arm around me, probably for keeping me from punching this Annabeth girl instead of keeping me supported.

We hear sirens on the road beside the school, and we all file into the car, Max placing me in a seat before getting in himself. I look at the driver, and wish I hadn't. He had bright blue eyes all over his body, a few looked at me and winked.

Trying not to stare, I ask the same question again. "What the heck is going, and what was that lady talking about?"

"Well we should start with the fact that you're a demigod." Percy says. "And by the sound of it, a powerful one."

I stare at him. "Ok seriously, don't joke. This is not a laughing matter, there is a serious crisis going on here and I need serious-"

"Heather, he's telling the truth." Max says. "Unless you didn't see the empousa and saw an old lady clawing at your leg, then yeah. You're a demigod."

I put my hands in my face. A _demigod?_ _Me?_ This was really weird, freaky, and kinda cool at the same time. I mean being half god is cool, which makes me wonder what kind of powers I have, besides being hella good at swimming. But still! It also meant that I had a really high chance of dying at a young age, most likely a really gruesome way. And I really didn't want to die so young. I'm 16 for God's sake!

"I guess you're not lying." I look up from my hands to Max, then Annabeth and Percy.

"Nope." Percy says. "And now we're taking you to Camp Half-Blood, where you'll be safe."

"So, there a lot more demigods, right?" I ask.

"Yeah. Including Max." Annabeth says, and I look at Max.

"So, who's your parents?" I ask them all.

"Mine is Poseidon." Percy says.

"Athena." Annabeth says.

"Son of Apollo." Max says with a raised hand.

"Any idea who mine is?" I ask hopefully. "Whoever is my dad, I hope they're badass and have cool powers."

Max laughs, but he is the only one. I guess the other two aren't much for jokes, or this is kinda serious and Max is the only one that thinks it's funny.

"Honestly it could be anyone." Annabeth says. "You could be the daughter of, say, Ares, and you could be totally horrible with weapons."

"Or you could be a daughter of Zeus and be really nice." Percy says. I don't know why but I laugh, and Annabeth smacks his arm. "You know very well she cannot be a daughter of the Big Three, Seaweed Brain." She says.

"So another question." I say. "She was saying something about Gaea's followers rallying again, what does that mean?"

All of their faces went pale, and I can tell that whoever Gaea was, she was _not_ a friend.

"Are you sure that's what she said?" Max asked me.

"Yeah, positive." I say. "Why? Is that bad?"

"Yeah, that's bad alright." Percy says.

"But who's Gaea?" I ask.

"Gaea is the Earth Mother." Max explains. "I didn't tell you that one yet."

"Ok." I say. "But isn't she supposed to be all nice and loving?"

"She's the exact opposite of that." Percy says. "She's really mean and cruel, and started a full out war about two years ago."

" _War?"_ I look at Max. "How long have you known you've been a demigod?" I ask him.

He rubs the back of his neck and doesn't meet my eyes. "A little over four years…"

"And you were _in_ that war?!" I exclaim.

"Two, actually." Percy says. There was a Titan war about three years ago."

" _A Titan…?"_ I look at Percy, and then Max. " _We will discuss this later."_ I hiss at him. I mean how could he have not told me earlier? He could have DIED! Although that did kind of explain last year how he broke up with me temporarily, saying that he had things he had to do and he might not come back. Then he came back about a few weeks later after going missing from school, and immediately got back with me.

"So, let me get this straight." I say. "Gaea is evil, and you guys defeated her, I take it. And now her followers are pissed at you guys and they're all trying to get back at you guys?"

"That about sums it up." Annabeth says.

I put my face in my hands again. "This is nuts." I say.

"Well, it's about to get even more crazy." Max says, and I feel the van stop. "We're here."

Max, Annabeth, and Percy, jump out of the van and then Max helps me out while I wrap an arm around his waist and hop along with them. We have to go up a hill, so by the time we get to the top, my left leg is burning. But the view is amazing.

A little ways past the hill we were standing on, a huge valley flattens out before me. A little ways past the foot of the hill, a two story house painted blue stands to the left of a volleyball court, and on the right of that, a building that I couldn't see what was inside of, an amphitheater, and a climbing wall that was oozing what I hoped was not lava. Behind that, I could make out a stream that fed into a lake, and behind that, a cluster of cabins in the shape of a U, with another cluster of cabins next to that in the shape of a rectangle(I think that's how they are now, I haven't read the books for a while.). To the right of that was a building with columns instead of regular walls, so you could look right into it and see about a dozen of long tables. To the left of the cabins is what looks like an arena, and another small building beside that one. And finally, to the left of the small building, a stable.

"You guys have _horses_ here?" I ask.

"Pegasi, actually." Max says.

"I love it already." I say. "Can I go ride one? Please please pleeeease!"

"Not with that leg you're not." Percy says. "You're going to the infirmary first, and you can meet Chiron while you're there, he'll want to talk to you."

"Wait, Chiron the centaur?" I ask. "The guy that trained Hercules?"

"That's him." Annabeth says. "But you'll meet him in a bit, we need to get that leg taken care of."

"Yeah I guess so." And with that, we go down the hill, and I hop all the way down.

 **So I'm not dead. And I know I should be working on my other stories, but I couldn't help it! The idea was calling out to me! And you guys have no idea how long it took me to do that paragraph describing the camp, I had to dig up "The Demigod Files" from my many books and find the map in it, I mean jeez. But I promise I'm working on the other two stories! Idk about the anniversary story though, I just do not seem to have enough time for that, much less three stories at one time. But I will get them all done! HOPE YOU ENJOYED AND PLZ REVIEW!**


	2. Why is there a fork over my head?

When we reach the end of the hill, Percy and Annabeth go ahead to the Big House, as they called it, while Max took me to the infirmary beside the house. It was actually kinda nice and comfy, with open walls like the building beside the cabins. There were only a few people inside, two people on seperate beds and one tall guy with curly blonde hair and freckles wearing a doctor's outfit.

"Will!" Max calls out while setting me down on a bed. The blonde guy turns around and looks at max.

"Oh hey, I heard you might be coming back." He said. "Chiron warned me you might get injured at the school, but I didn't know you would be bringing back another demigod." He looks at me. "So how'd you take it? Being a demigod and all?"

"Well for a few minutes I didn't believe it at all, but I'm kinda liking a few things about it." I say as he walks over to address my leg.

"Such as?" He asks.

"The pegasi mostly." I say. "I've always loved horses."

"Well that's one upside." he starts to undo the gauze on my leg, and I look away before I can see the wound.

Will notices this and then looks at Max. "Has she had any ambrosia yet?"

Max shakes his head. "Not yet."

Will smiles and looks at me. "You're in for a treat." He walks away for a second and goes to a set of cabinets on the other side of the room, and comes back holding something that looked like a twinkie cake.

"What is that?" I ask.

"It's called ambrosia." Will says. "It's mostly used as a painkiller and healer at the same time, but we can't eat too much of it or we'll explode." He takes the cake and breaks it in half, and hands one half to me and puts the other half back in the cabinets.

"Well that's always fun." I say and take a bite of the cake. It was warm and tasted exactly like my mom's chocolate chip brownies. When I swallow it, it leaves a warm feeling in my mouth and throat. I shove the rest of it in my mouth and the burning in my leg reduces to a dull throbbing.

"How come it tastes like brownies?" I ask.

"Ambrosia tastes like whatever the eater's favorite comfort food is." Max explains.

"Cool." I say.

"I don't think you'll be needing stitches, and the claws didn't go too deep, so you should be fine by tomorrow afternoon." Will says and gives me a smile. "I'll just put some fresh bandages on and some more gauze and you can go meet Chiron, he'll want to talk to you."

"Yeah, I keep hearing that." I say as he grabs more gauze and bandages. "Is he the one who runs the camp?"

"That would actually be Mr. D." Max says. "He's the camp director, Chiron is the activities director."

"Mr. D?" I ask.

"Dionysus." Will says wrapping the bandages around my leg.

"The wine guy?" I ask, and they both laugh. "What?" I say, oblivious.

"Nothing, it's just...that's almost exactly what my boyfriend said when he came to camp." Will said, still smirking.

"Your boy...you know that that's probably the most normal thing here so ok." I say.

Will blushes and stands up. "You can get going now, but you may want some crutches until tomorrow." He once again walks away, and comes back with a pair of crutches and hands them to me as I sit up in the bed. He nods once and walks off to tend to his other patients.

"So, you ready to go see Chiron?" Max asks.

"Guess so." I say, and stand up with the crutches and follow him out.

It's only about a minute walk up to the Big House, but even as we walked, I saw a few demigods who gave me a few looks, not bad looks, more like looks of pity. I still hated being looked at though.

We reach the house, and the first thing I see is a guy in a wheelchair on the porch talking to Percy and Annabeth. When we reach the porch, all three of them look at Max and I.

"So you must be Heather." The man says, and holds his hand out for me to shake when I manage to get up the steps. I nod and shake it. "I'm Chiron." He says.

" _You're_ Chiron?" I say. "I thought you would be...taller, I guess."

He gives a small laugh. "This is just something I use to get around the house." he says.

"But how can you…" I don't even know how to put it.

"Fit inside it?" He grins. "Magic, my dear."

"Magic." I repeat. "Right. Cuz nothing is normal science anymore."

Max kind of smirks, and so does Percy a small bit. Annabeth however, stays serious.

"My dear, may I talk to you?" Chiron asks. "About what happened today?"

"Sure." I say. Chiron nods at Percy, Annabeth, and Max, and Percy and Annabeth leave. Max gives me a look, then kisses my forehead and follows Percy and Annabeth. Chiron turns his wheelchair and goes inside, and I follow him in.

The inside of the house looks pretty much normal, except for the living room, where a leopard head is mounted on the wall, and the head is snoring lazily.

"Is that alive?" I ask, pointing at the leopard.

"Very much, yes." Chiron says, and gestures for me to sit on the couch. I sit, staring at the leopard. I've always liked big cats, and thought that they had just gotten a bad reputation for being carnivores. But seeing one's head on a wall had me change thoughts a bit.

"So, how are you liking camp so far?" He asks me with a smile.

"It's nice so far." I say. "I'm excited for the pegasi, that should be fun once this leg decides to be nice and heal." I half joke.

"Yes, they are quite different." He agrees. "Now, onto more pressing matters." He says with a grim face. "The empousa that attacked you today, she said something about Gaea?"

"Yes." I say.

"What exactly did she say?" Chiron asks.

"That Gaea's followers were rallying once again to exact their revenge on all demigods." I say, the image of Miss Canara's blood red eyes above me as she prepares to claw at my face.

"You are sure of this?" Chiron asks.

I nod. "Yes."

He strokes his chin thoughtfully before speaking again. "This is bad." He says. "Very bad."

"Um… remind me again, what exactly _happened_ with Gaea?" I ask.

"About two years ago, Percy Jackson and Jason Grace disappeared, marking the start of the Giant War." Chiron explains. "Both Jason and Percy had their memories wiped, and set in different locations. Jason in a school bus on their way to a field trip, and Percy somewhere in South California.(I think)" During the war, the Doors of Death were opened, which meant that Monsters, demigods from the past, titans, and giants, were able to walk the Earth again. And they would not stay in tartarus for a while when defeated, instead they came back minutes later."

"So seven demigods set out on a journey to close the doors, Roman and Greek. They succeeded, and went to Greece to finish the war. Only they didn't end it there. Instead, by accident, Gaea awoke with the blood of two of the demigods, I will not say who, and the last battle shifted back to Camp Half Blood, where there was already a battle happening, Romans versus the Greeks."

"So basically two wars in one?" I say.

"Sort of like that, yes." He says. "But, we became allies once the Praetor of the Romans came and forbid attacking the Greeks. And with her she brought, with the much help of Nico Di Angelo, whom without it would not be standing on that hill, the Athena Parthenos. That ended the battle of the Romans and Greeks, but just when it ended, another began with Gaea and her army."

"But you guys defeated her, right?" I say.

"Yes, we did." He said. "She is now once again asleep, with a very, very small chance of being awoken ever again."

"Wow." I say. "You guys are really powerful badasses." I say.

Chiron gives a small laugh. "Most of us, yes." he says. Suddenly a horn sounds, and I look outside to see the sun almost setting. "Good gracious, it's time for dinner already." Chiron says, and looks at me. "You may want to head up to the Mess Hall, my dear. Originally, new campers are supposed to sit at the Hermes table, but only for tonight, you'll sit with your own cabin from then on when you are claimed tonight, but I guess you would want to sit with your boyfriend?" He says with a slight smirk.

"How did you…" I ask. I didn't think anyone really new max and I were dating.

Chiron chuckles. "My dear, he never stops talking about you." says with a smile. "Now you should probably get going, you don't want to miss dinner. And I think Max is waiting for you outside."

I grab my crutches and stand up before nodding farwell at Chiron, and then make my way back onto the porch, where indeed, Max was waiting for me.

"I don't know if Chiron told you this, but you have to sit at the Hermes table." He says.

"Actually, he said I could sit with you. Until tomorrow, at least." I explain as we make our way to the Mess Hall.

"Oh cool. I wanna get a chance to talk to you about the camp." Max says and smiles at me.

"Such as?" I ask curiously.

"Such as who to watch out for, and how things work around here." He explains.

"Who to watch out for?" I ask.

"There are a few people you should avoid, or at least keep an eye out for. troublemakers, I guess."

"And who are the troublemakers?" I ask as we near the Mess Hall, and as we get nearer, I can see a lot of people already there and sitting at the many tables.

"Basically all the Hermes kids, specifically Conner and Travis Stoll. Always keep a hand on your wallet around them, and whatever you do, _do not_ let them have access to shaving cream." He warns, pointing a finger at me.

We go inside the Hall, and Max leads me to a table with only a few other people sitting there, including Will, who was sitting to the right of a boy with black hair, olive skin, dressed in a leather aviator jacket, a black T shirt, and black jeans and tennis shoes. Max sits on the other side of Will, and I sit on the other side of Max.

"Guys, this is Heather, Heather, this is Austin, Kayla, and Nico." Max introduces. "You've already met Will." He points at Will on his left side.

"Nico?" I ask, looking at the emo kid. "Like, the guy who brought the Athena Parthenos to camp?"

He narrows his eyes at me. "What's it to you?" He asks.

I shrug. "Chiron just kinda made it sound like you were famous or something."

I could have sworn I saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward. "Yeah, I'm not popular at all around here." He says. "Being the son of Hades and all."

"If you're a son of Hades, then shouldn't you be sitting at that table?" I ask. I know I'm being nosey, but sometimes I can't help it.

"I'm allowed to sit here." He says. "Bad things happen when I'm alone. And aren't you supposed to be with the Hermes kids?" He says, pointing at a table that was filled with way too many people.

"Chiron said I could sit with Max for the night." I say.

Suddenly I hear a loud noise at the front of the Mess, and I see Chiron stamping his hoof on the marble. He raises his glass to the air before speaking. "To the gods!"

"To the gods!" I hear people shouting, including Will, Max, Austin, and Kayla. Then about a dozen teenage girls wearing chitons come out, all carrying platters of food of all kinds, including barbecue.

My mouth started to water and my stomach started to growl. I forgot to have breakfast and hardly ate lunch today.

I noticed that none of the girls were carrying pitchers for drinks. "Where are the drinks?" I ask.

"Right in front of you." Max says, nodding toward the gold goblets in front of each of us. "Just say what you want, and the goblet will fill itself up. And it's endless refills."

"Anything?" I ask curiously, picking up the goblet and looking inside.

"Anything." He said.

"Be-"

" _Except for alcohol!"_ Max says, and takes away my goblet. I give him a pouty look. "I wanted to know what it tasted like." I pouted.

"Too bad." he said. "Water." The goblet filled up with the clear liquid, and he handed it to me.

"Meanie." I mutter before taking a drink.

The platters of food finally came to our table, and I take a plate and shovel some brisket and mashed potatoes onto my plate. I stick my fork into the plate and am about to take a huge bite before Max stops me. "Not yet." He gets up with his plate and fork, and motions for me to follow him. I get up with my plate of uneaten food and fork, and follow him and all the other campers to the middle of the room, where a giant fireplace is. As I get up there, I notice people are taking a bit of their food into the fire.

"What the fuck are these people doing." I say, and Max smirks.

"Language, and we're giving the gods offerings." he explains. "They like the smell."

"No fucking way." I say.

" _Language."_ Max chuckles.

"No _fudging_ way." I say, and slide a piece of brisket off my plate and into the fire. The smell actually wasn't horrible. But I would rather eat my food than smell it burn. We go back to the table, and I immediately shovel the food into my mouth.

"So, about the camp." Max starts.

"Yeah, you were gonna explain how everything works around here." I say between mouthfuls of brisket.

"Right. So first, you're not getting away from chores." He says.

I stare at him. " _Are you kidding me?"_

"Nope." He laughs. "And it's even worse here, you have to muck pegasi stalls."

"Which absolutely sucks." Kayla says. "I have it three times this month."

"Also, you have activities every day, and you are _not_ getting away from those." Max says. "Most of them are survival skills, like sword fighting, rock climbing, agility, all that stuff."

"Yay, workout." I joke, and shove some mashed potatoes into my mouth.

"And now about the campers." He says. "Avoid Mr. D whenever possible, he's not fun."

"Neither is Clarisse." Austin chimes in. "She's a huge jerk."

"Noted." I say.

"Annabeth gets really protective over Percy, so that's just a warning." Will says.

"Yeah, as if I would hit on Percy." I say, and take Max's hand under the table. Max has become a part of my life that is impossible to take out. I wouldn't trade him for anything, and I would gladly give my life for him.

"Stay away from most of the Ares kids, but when Frank comes over, he's really nice." Max says.

"Frank?" I ask.

"One of the seven demigods, I'll talk to about that later." Max says, and eats some brisket from his plate. "Drew is a real brat, she's an Aphrodite kid."

"Like most of the girls at school?" I ask him.

"Yup. Except she's worse." Max says.

"Great." I say sarcastically.

"Oh, and mind Leo." he says. "He likes to scare new campers by dousing himself in flames."

I stare at him, not thinking I had heard him right. "Um...How does he do that?"

"He's a son of Hephaestus, but his power is still pretty rare." Will says.

"Right." I say, and stuff more mashed potatoes into my mouth.

I only get a few more mashed potatoes in my mouth before Chiron pounds his hoof against the floor again for our attention. Once everyone was quiet, a pot bellied man with black hair holding a huge goblet of what looked like wine stood up, looking like he would much rather be anywhere but here right now.

"Hello to all you horrible kids." He said. "I only have one announcement tonight, we have a new camper, Heather Ramendez." I saw Chiron mutter something under his breath to the man, and he cleared his throat. "Yes, Heather Armendez. That's what I said." I see a bunch of people look at me and I am suddenly aware that I have mashed potato on the corner of my mouth. I wipe it away with a napkin as I feel my face grow hot.

"That's all. Now go enjoy your little campfire." The old man plops back down in his chair and gulps more wine as everyone gets up from their seats and goes toward the space between the cabins, where a large red fire was burning. I get up and I entwine my fingers with Max's.

"You ready for some singing?" I smiles at me, and give him a horrified look. "I am _not_ singing!" I refuse. "No way, no how!"

"Oh come on you have a wonderful voice!" Max plays around as we walk, swinging our arms between us.

"I'm _not_ singing, Max." I half laugh, because he's just being so adorable right now. But he knows that I don't sing around people, not ever. Unless it was pop music, but I doubt that most people here would know country from rap.

"Pleeeeeease?" he begs. "For me?" He stands in front of me and gives me the puppy look. It always works on me.

"Fine!" I give up, and he smiles. "Only a little bit though!" I say, pointing at him.

He kisses the top of my head and smiles down at me. "Thank you. And don't worry, I'll be singing too." he says. "I have to, actually. Apollo kids always lead the sing alongs."

"Well that makes sense." I agree, and we near the campfire, where Will is holding a guitar next to Nico, Austin, and Kayla. Max and I sit in the bench behind them, with a girl with purple hair cut like a guy's, but the front was left long and curly. Her face was covered in freckles, and she was wearing pink lip gloss and black eyeliner that made her eyes pop.

We sit on her left, and she smiles brightly at us. "Hi, I'm Brooke." He says. "I'm a daughter of Aphrodite."

"Heather." I say. "I didn't think all Aphrodite kids would be this nice, I thought they would be kinda stuck up."

"Yeah, we kinda automatically get that reputation." Brooke explains. "But some of us really are, like Drew Tanaka."

"Yeah, I've heard about her." I tell Brooke. "She's very nice either is she?"

Brooke shakes her head. "She was head counselor for a few months last year, and it was horrible. She was extremely bossy too, and made everyone do what she wanted them too."

"Sounds horrible." I say. Even though I've only exchanged a few words with her, I got the feeling we were gonna be really good friends.

"Any requests?" Will calls out to the crowd.

I look at Max. "Please tell me you people know what pop songs are."

"I'm sure most of us do, but some stay here the whole year, so they only know the songs here." He answers. (I have no idea whether or not that is true, except that some actually do stay at camp all year.)

A few of the campers yell out requests, and a few songs are yelled more than once. Will agrees to do the one song called multiple times, and he begins to strum the guitar. It's a moderate speed, and all notes are staccato. After the first 4 counts, everyone starts singing, except me. I have no idea what they are singing, I hardly make out what they are singing. I catch a few words like "satyr" and "cyclops."

I look at Max singing beside me, and he smiles at me and nudges me, trying to get me to sing along. I shake my head and lean back a little on the bench. I still have my hoodie on, even after the whole day. I haven't even changed into an orange camp T-shirt like everyone else, even Max.

They sing a few more songs, and for a few I kinda mumble the words that go along with it, not letting Max see of course, he would have done something to get me to sing louder, which I did _not_ want. I noticed that even Chiron was singing along to some of the songs, laughing at a few lines.

The last song finishes, and Chiron stamps his hoof for attention. I've gotten used to seeing him as a centaur. Everyone quiets down, and he starts speaking. I hardly listen to him as I start drifting off, but Max nudges me and I am forced back to reality instead of dreamworld. Instead, I tune out Chiron and go to fantasyland, and I lean on Max.

Then Chiron stops speaking, and I realize that people are staring at my direction.

 _At me._

I straighten and look around, and more and more people stare at me, But Brooke and Max are looking above my head. I look up, and see a three pronged fork glowing blue-green above my head.

"Why is there a fork over my head?" I ask aloud.

"That's not a fork, it's a trident." Percy says across the fire. "It's the symbol of my... _our..._ father. Poseidon."

I stare at him as the trident fades away from over over my head. "So you mean…"

"Yes." Chiron says. "Percy is not the only living child of Poseidon." He looks me square in the eyes. "You are the third living child of Poseidon."

 **Ok I know she's not** _ **technically**_ **the third living child, but I'm not counting Poseidon's immortal son, whatever his name is. HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED AND PLZ REVIEW!(its my bday today XD**


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